


I'll Find You Again

by Rehearsal_Dweller



Series: Near Miss AU [11]
Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Gen, Modern AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:40:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24777787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rehearsal_Dweller/pseuds/Rehearsal_Dweller
Summary: Benny: Would it be weird for me to come to your house with hot chocolate because I’m feeling a strong urgeBenny: I’m not kidding david where do you live now I’m still in town
Series: Near Miss AU [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1735408
Comments: 38
Kudos: 67





	I'll Find You Again

**Author's Note:**

> This is the fic I promised everybody after I finished Parallel! It's just a silly little fic set a week or so after the end of Bullseye 6, about Benny and David reconnecting because I made everybody sad with the Parallel epilogue (including myself oops).  
> Not a ton of plot, just some friend bonding! I hope you like it!

_To: Benny_

_Hey I know I said it when we hung out with Kate and the boys but I’m sorry_

_You were my best friend and I just dropped out of your life and you deserve better than that_

_I’ve missed you a lot and I really regret how I treated you, I hope you can forgive me._

It’s an excruciating text to send, and David actually curls up on the Higgins-Conlons’ couch to write and send it. As much as he loves Jack – and he does deeply love Jack – this is really one of those things he needs his best friends for. Mostly because he feels like if anybody might understand what his relationship with Benny was like it’s the two people on either side of him.

A response comes in less than an hour later.

_From: Benny_

_Holy shit._

_I know I saw you a few days ago, but I still kinda thought I’d never get a text from you again._

_Of course I forgive you, dumbass. You were in some serious, deep pain and talking to me was only ever going to make it worse. I don’t blame you for cutting us off._

David almost bursts into tears right then and there.

“What’d he say, Daves?” Sean asks, propping his chin on David’s shoulder to see the phone in his hands.

“That he forgives me,” says David. “Oh, god, I don’t deserve that.”

Tony, on David’s other side, squeezes a little closer to him. “Well, don’t say that, okay? Don’t try to talk people out of loving you.”

“But –“

“Nope.”

“I just kind of can’t believe it.”

“Look, Dave, if you and Buttons were as close as you say you were, I’d have been more surprised if he _hadn’t_ forgiven you,” says Sean. “You’re an easy person to care about, and he was _there_ when it all went down. We knew he’d understand.”

_Benny: I missed you, too, by the way._

_Me: Have I told you recently that you’re amazing and I don’t deserve you?_

_Benny: No, it’s been about seven years._

_Me: You’re amazing and I don’t deserve you._

_Benny: Would it be weird for me to come to your house with hot chocolate because I’m feeling a strong urge_

_Benny: I’m not kidding david where do you live now I’m still in town_

David laughs. It’s amazing, _amazing_ and unbelievable that this is happening right now. He doesn’t doubt that Benny really will show up, either, because that was always Benny’s thing when they were home from school – he’d just appear at David’s parents’ house with food or a drink and they’d chat for a little while before going their separate ways.

“So you don’t forget me,” Benny had said once, sitting on the front step with David.

David had taken a bite of his croissant and rolled his eyes. “You’re the one with friends, Ben.”

“You’re just always so busy when we’re home. Work and Les and stuff. This way we still see each other.” Benny grinned at David. “If I bring you food you make time for me.”

David laughed. “I’ll always make time for you.”

Present-day David takes a deep breath. “He’s coming over.”

“He is?” says Tony, raising an eyebrow.

“Impromptu visits with food in hand are his love language, I think,” says David, smiling. “At least it was in college.” He shifts forward, giving Sean and Tony a little time to pull away from him before standing up. “Thank you for – well, thanks.”

“Any time,” Sean says.

“If you need a rescue while he’s here give us a shout,” adds Tony. “We’ll be there with embarrassing high school stories and a first grader in less than a minute.”

David laughs again. He’s feeling lighter than he has in weeks. “Yeah, okay.”

He leaves the Higgins-Conlon apartment and walks back over to his own, where Les and Leah are working on a puzzle on the coffee table.

“Hey, guys, my friend’s going to stop by,” David says. “He’s on his way over.”

Leah looks up at David, her head tipped inquisitively to one side. “You have friends?”

David’s mouth falls open in shock and Les bursts into laughter.

“ _Leah!”_

“What?”

“I have friends!” says David, somewhere between shocked annoyance and amusement. “What do you think Sean and Tony are?”

“Oh,” says Leah, frowning. “I guess I didn’t think about that. They’re kind of just more dads, you know?” She shrugs. “So you have a friend?”

“Yes, I have a friend,” David says. He sits down on the couch behind Leah. “He’s a really important friend. When you were born, he was my best friend in the world. He was the very first person to ever hold you besides –“ he falters, meeting Les’s eye briefly over Leah’s head – “me.”

“How come I don’t know him, then?” asks Leah.

David sighs. “You know how you don’t have a mom, Bean?”

Leah turns to look straight at him, her expression flat. “Yeah, Dad, I know I don’t have a mom.”

That sets Les off again, although this time he puts a hand over his mouth to try to muffle his laughter.

“God, first grade has you just _full_ of sass, doesn’t it?” says David. He shakes his head. “You were _supposed_ to have a mama, baby. She was my very good friend, but a little while after you were born something happened and she wasn’t able to be your mama anymore. I was really sad for a long time, and I stopped talking to a lot of people. My friend Benny was one of them. But he and I are trying to be friends again.”

“Oh,” says Leah. She pats David’s knee, then turns back to the puzzle. “I’m glad you have friends again.”

“ _Leah_ –“

The doorbell buzzes.

For all David’s excitement, he freezes up at the sound.

“I got it, Davey,” says Les.

Which buys him about forty-five seconds to get his breathing back under control before Ben bursts through the door.

He’s got a to go carrier from Starbucks in his hand.

“Hello, Jacobses!” Benny says as he comes in. He’s smiling, but David can see his own nerves reflected back at him in his eyes. “Oh my god, Les? You’re like two miles tall now!”

Les laughs. “Hey, Ben. Good to see ya.”

“Hey, Benny,” says David. “Leah, come over and say hi.”

David stands up and offers a hand to Leah, then leads her over to his friend.

Benny’s breath catches when his eyes fall on Leah, and he kneels down to look at her eye-to-eye. “Hi, Leah-beah. You probably don’t remember me, but I met you the day you were born. I can’t believe you’re so big now. My name’s Benny.”

“Nice to meet you, Benny,” Leah says politely.

“Nice to meet you, too, kiddo,” Benny says. “I bet you’re a completely different person than you were when you were a baby.”

Leah nods.

“She’s exactly as sassy as you always predicted she would be,” says David.

Benny stands up, laughing. “Oh, I bet she is.” He holds out the to-go carrier. “I got hot chocolate for everybody, I figured it was a safe bet.”

“Thanks,” says David. He lets Les start distributing the hot chocolates. “Ben –“

“Hey, Dave.”

“I’m sorry,” David says.

“I know,” Benny replies.

“Is it, like, really terrible to say I’ve missed you more than I’ve missed Bill and Darce?” says David, smiling.

Benny laughs. “I would be offended if you didn’t. We all knew you loved me more than Bill and Darce.”

“Too bad I didn’t love you guys more than –“ David sighs. “It’s fair to none of us that _she’s_ the one who came back into my life first.”

Benny pats his shoulder. “Believe me when I say that you are _never getting rid of me again_.”

“That a promise?”

“It’s a goddamn guarantee.” Benny looks over at Les and Leah, who have returned to the coffee table with their cups. “Now, Bean, I gotta know. Does your daddy still stay up half the night reading or did he just do that to annoy me?”

“Ben _ny_ ,” says David, laughing.

It’s nothing and everything like when they were younger and Benny would turn up on David’s doorstep. He doesn’t leave after a few minutes this time – he stays late into the night, well after Les volunteers to put Leah to bed and then wanders over next door to ask Sean about something for school.

“You and Katie really okay?” Benny says quietly, once the kids are gone. “Are _you_ really okay?”

“Don’t got a lotta choice about it,” says David, shrugging. “It’s been the better part of five years since Sarah, um, _introduced_ us, so –“

“Five years?” repeats Benny. “Leah would’a been, what, two?”

“A little less.”

“And she dated Jack in the middle?”

“Apparently. I try not to think about it.”

“That’s rough, bud,” Benny says. He pats David’s leg.

David shrugs. “We’re alright. S’easier now I’m not keepin’ it as much a secret – cause for a while, there, nobody knew but me and her. Still not exactly common knowledge, but I can talk about it with Jack or Sean and Tony if I need to.”

They’ve spent the evening catching up on each other’s lives – but it was always going to come back to this. After all, it’s the reason they need to catch up in the first place.

“Look, Ben, I know I’ve said it, like, a thousand times already, but –“

“I swear to god, David, if you apologize again –“

“I shouldn’t have ignored you.”

“It’s over, though,” says Benny. “It happened, and it sucked and we missed each other, but as long as you don’t randomly stop answering my texts again, like. You’re forgiven, dude.” He opens an arm, and stares expectantly at David until he scoots across the couch and lets himself be held. “Fuck Katie, though.”

David snorts. “That’s what got me into this mess.”

“Dave!” says Benny, laughing. “ _Dave_.”

“Am I wrong?”

“I can’t believe you _said_ it.” Benny squishes David against his side. “ _You!”_

“Tony’s a bad influence,” David says, grinning.

“Oh! _THAT,”_ says Benny. His tone is still light and teasing, but he’s put on a serious face. “You know what I _am_ annoyed about?”

“What?” David replies.

“You replaced me as your best friend! With Spot Conlon and Race fucking Higgins!”

David laughs. “You can have your position back if you move back from New York.”

“Ain’t gonna happen, Davey, ain’t gonna happen,” says Benny.

“Second best friend it is,” David says, shrugging. He drops his head onto Benny’s shoulder. “I don’t make the rules.”

“Am I still that high on the list?” Benny asks. He rests his cheek on the top of David’s head.

“If you want to be,” says David.

Benny sighs. “Yeah, I do. I’ve missed you, Dave.”

“I’ve missed you, too, Ben.”

Benny does, eventually, leave. It’s very late, and David is almost sure that Les has fallen asleep on the Higgins-Conlons’ couch.

David wakes up the next morning to a selfie that Benny had insisted on taking before he left last night, sent to a group chat he hasn’t thought of in years. In the picture, Benny is standing on tiptoe to mush his face against David’s cheek. It made David laugh to take, and it makes him laugh again to see.

_NEW YORK CREW_

_Benny: [PHOTO]_

_Benny: he replaced me but it’s cool I still love him_

_Bill: I swear to god Ben it’s 6am_

_Benny: it’s not my fault you’re not in Chicago like us cool kids where it’s 8_

_K: 8 is still too early Benny_

_Benny: shut the fuck, Kathy. I’m tryin to have a moment with David._

_Me: it’s okay Benny I’ll have a moment with you_

_Benny: see, David loves me_

_Benny: love u bud <3_

_Me: love you too Ben_

_Darcy: oh god they’re back._

_Me: damn right._


End file.
